


In the black hours, your face is the bright lure I look for

by itsgameover



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Junmyeon's Birthday Week 2020, M/M, Mermaid Sehun, Prince Kim Junmyeon | Suho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24256792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsgameover/pseuds/itsgameover
Summary: It is at sea where what he desires the most always remains.
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Oh Sehun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28
Collections: Challenge #2 — Merfolk





	In the black hours, your face is the bright lure I look for

**Author's Note:**

> With a wordcount of 965 words and being my first work where I included merfolk, I physically had to restrain myself from adding more and more details. I fully intended on naming every living relative and friend possible but the challenge's law is king.  
> Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line I'll write a fully fledged 20k words fic about this.  
> For now, enjoy my tiny underwater spark <3

Where the land meets the sea, the castle walls are covered in moss and seaweed, sticky and slippery to the touch. Junmyeon wrinkles his nose when his digits come in contact with the material, but he needs to swim and this is the only place where he can do it away from prying eyes. No one knows he is there, of course they don’t, it’s past midnight and everyone assumes the prince is sleeping soundly in his comfortable feather mattress. But it’s summer and his veins simmer with the need to touch the ocean, to feel the water as the moon soars high in the sky. 

He takes a deep breath and sinks down, moonlight just bright enough to see what he needs, sinking under the waters, squirming past the iron bars that guard them, until he reaches the exterior walls. Junmyeon rises, breathing rapidly, turning back to see the high walls of the castle remain calm, not a sign of disturbance in the few guards that walk from post to post. The prince sighs and keeps swimming, head falling and rising from the waters as he proppels himself to the left, as far away as he can from the Tower of the Sea, the castle’s only place that dips its stone walls into the waters. 

“Junmyeon!” he hears, steady voice calling him home. A siren’s song, a melody of the ocean. Legends raised him thinking mermaids were dangerous, creatures full of darkness that lured innocent men into their doom. And yes, this siren will be Junmyeon’s doom but in the sweetest of ways. 

“Sehunnie” he replies, breathless when a pair of arms envelop him from below and under the waters the most beautiful man smiles. 

“I missed you” Sehun’s smile grows when both are above the waters, floating gently in the midnight waves, embracing each other. Junmyeon’s only answer is to kiss him, gently and sweetly, tasting salt water and mystery when Sehun returns his affections. 

They swim to the shore, away from the castle, near the Old Harbor, where forgotten ships sink in oblivion. Junmyeon always follows Sehun, loves Sehun, would trust him with his life. So when he offers to show him a cave full of sea crystals, Junmyeon follows suit, smiling at how earnestly Sehun is trying to keep his childish tendencies at bay, squishing just a little bit too much Junmyeon’s tiny human hand before handing him the seaweed that lets him breath underwater for a short time. 

Junmyeon would never hesitate to call Sehun pretty, but sometimes he does forget that he is indeed gorgeous, black hair floating gently in the waters, broad back, slim waist, long tail with scales the color of aquamarines. He never misses the opportunity to praise him, to remind him how amazing he is. Sehun always blushes, always kisses Junmyeon fervently. 

Their time is limited, they both know that. The sun will rise and Junmyeon would be forced to go back to the castle, to live on earth even when what he desires is at sea. The days will go on and it will takes moons for Junmyeon to successfully sneak away from the garrison of the castle. It’s a miracle he did it today and more so wearing a nightgown. 

“Here” Sehun says, breathing oxygen with lungs rather than gills for the first time in a long while as they rise into an underwater cave. Junmyeon’s brow furrows and Sehun laughs at him. “Not exactly here. Take a big breath so you can lose it when you see it”

Indeed he loses his breath when he sees it. The cave is spacious enough for a ship to fit in, not that any human would ever be able to reach it on their own, and there is sand surrounding the body of water, but the real magic comes from above: the roof of the cave is covered in sparkly crystals or a thousand colors, bright and beautiful. Junmyeon gapes at the scene as he slowly makes his way to the underwater shore, sitting with his body half out of the water. 

“It’s beautiful” he mutters and Sehun’s mermaid ears catch it right away, smiling at him with eyes turned to crescents. 

“It’s all for you” Sehun says, blushing “No one else knows about it, I never told anyone...”

“I love you” Junmyeon answers, extending both arms towards the mermaid, kissing each other ardently under a fake sky, making wishes for time to stop, for the earth to stop spinning. 

Junmyeon has a lot of silly wishes, hopeless prayers that will go nowhere, heart full of misplaced desires. His dreams are all the same, always full of fantastic worlds where no castle walls, no ocean tides, stand between their love. 

He wants to say so many things, wants to confess Sehun so many secrets, yet all he is good for now is hoping and praying and burying his fingers in the darkness of his hair, hoping his lips can say the things his tongue cannot. And he knows it’s silly to think such a thing, but perhaps a mermaid’s kiss can turn you into one of their kin if you drink them like fine wine. 

The prince always comes back to the castle, sneaks past the garrison and into his room, dries himself as much as he can, and goes on with his royal life and the duties this life imposses. And the prince’s duties are to marry, sooner than he would like, he doesn’t have the heart to tell Sehun about it, not yet. Still, it’s only the prince who will marry a bride, for Junmyeon lives at sea, forever swimming in the arms of his beloved, who sinks under the ocean and comes out smiling, holding his hand through high and low tides.


End file.
